Not my idea, but seen on a nearby job. Thought it was good enough to pass along.
A board and batten siding job is trimmed at the openings using 2x lumber, which dresses to 1-1/2 thickness, so that the trim can come out to the line of the battens.
This is presuming one is using 1x boards and battens, for a total thickness of 1-1/2.
See the attached pic.
The head piece is given rebates at its ends, as is the 1x crown piece that sits atop it. The jamb legs of the trim are rebated also, as is the bottom of the sill piece. The rebates, all maybe 1/2 deep by 13/16 wide, are for a coped piecs of board siding to slip under.
A metal cap flash sits atop the skewed (maybe 5 degrees) crown, and it goes on before the boards, of course.
Since the 2x lumber thickness has its outboard face proud of the metal- or vinyl-clad windows, which typically pooch out about one inch, a router is used to create a stopped bevel under the window opening. The cut is stopped each side, right at the window corner location, which is the junction of the sill and jamb legs.
The board and batten siding layout is such that a coped board is used at both sides of all openings, so that battens are inboard of the trim edges. Battens below the opening are placed tight to the sill trim, and the upper battens, with bevel cut ends, are nailed so that their ends sit slightly above the flashing lip.
Now let’s see one of you SketchUp wizards do it up right in color, nice cutaway sections, showing this with the boards and battens!
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Any chance you can get some photos of this? I'm wrestling with how to trim out a board and batten building right now. The siding is likely to be 1x10 plus 1x3, actual thickness 11/16" each, so a 2x trim would be 1/8" proud. No problem there. The bigger issue I see is somehow avoiding problems such as a batten landing on the corner of a window, and wanting to be notched to continue below. Ideally you would want all battens to land squarely on top of windows, not right at the corners. I think I'll make up some long storyboards to troubleshoot this in advance, in case any finessing is needed.
David, your new shop job was what I thought about when I saw this today!
The job I saw this on had been done with precision and craftsmanship, and it was clear that they took their time to lay out the board patterns so as to get board centerlines landing on or as close as possible to the trim jamb leg outboard edges.
You are absolutely right, in noting that you cannot have battens landing there. It is the boards that are notched, not the battens.
Stepping back from this job today, I thought, "Cool, the patterns are centered on the windows!"
The beauty of a board and batten job is that since you are leaving the boards gapped under the battens, you can cheat that gap up or down a little as required to stretch or shrink your runs, so as to make things work for you. That, and storypoling it out, will be all you need to succeed.
I will try to get a photo soon.
I thought about trying to lay out the doors and windows so that no batten conflicts would happen. Decided I'm either not smart enough to actually get it right, or that it's the wrong thing to drive opening layout anyway, or both. With my luck there will be at least one batten that is centered over the corner of a window, and I'll have to carefully fan all of the siding boards from the start of the run to correct it.
C'mon now. Don't give up!
I doodled on my model some more so it would match the installation I saw. Take a look at the pics.
The wood cap and its flash sit tilted 5 degrees for drain, and the head trim is bevel-ripped to match.
The "HEAD ZOOM" closeup shows how the notched flash leaves a gap to be sealed with caulk. You can eliminate the gap by not notching the flash, but you will need to sawkerf the board with the jigsaw set to 5 degrees, for the flash end can slip into the kerf.
The "SECTION" view is of the wireframe model, and shows how the board and batten ends above the flash are held up 1/8" for breathing room.
The "SILL ZOOM" shows how the router cut is stopped to align to the jamb leg.
The "READY" zoom shows how the flash is notched in my version.
Please show us some sequential photos of techniques and results, like Mike Smith does, as you progress through your siding installation!
Gene, thanks very much! Seems like an excellent detail. I'll be tackling this phase in about 4 week. The first floor walls are up, but we have to abandon ship (or is it abandon shop) and go frame an addition elsewhere. I already have a fair number of photos of the digging, the concrete, setting the walls, etc., and will put together a slide show.
Here is a pic, David. Sorry about the snowflakes.
The photo doesn't do the quality of the joinery justice. I should take some closeups of the details later.
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Edited 3/14/2006 6:08 pm ET by Gene_Davis
and David -
here's a detail - simple is better? maybe?
David - to come out even with your B&B, secure your boards either side of your openings and then adjust/rip boards to come out even between - there's no law that every board has to be the same width - most cases an inch or so adjustment in width makes it all work out, and people will be hard pressed to spot any difference, even if they look for it -
in my case, they'll be much busier noticing the cracked boards caused by using two nails per board -
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